Abel patched of westfield



UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ABEL PATOHEN, OF WESTFIELD, NEW YORK.

PROCESS OF FREEING QUICKSILVER FROM LEAD.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 314,711, dated March 31, 1885.

Application filed May 21, 1884. (No specimens.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ABEL PATGHEN, a citizen of the United States, residing at \Vestfield, in the county of Chautauqua and State of New York, now temporarily residing in Mexico,

have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Process of Freeing Quicksilver from Lead, of which the following is a specification.

Itis Well known that in straining amalgam of silver ores containinglead a percentage of lead is carried through the sack or other straining device with the quicksilver, and the latter is thereby rendered partially unfit for reuse; and the object of this invention is to free the quicksilver from the percentage or quantity of lead which is taken up by the same, or which passes through the straining device with the same, in order that the quicksilver may be thoroughly freed from lead, so that its action upon the ore in succeeding processes of amalgamation may be as'thorough and complete as in any previous use of the same quicksilver.

Ihave discovered that by treating the quicksilver with a solution of sulphate of copper the lead in the quicksilver, accumulated by previous uses of the same, as above described, is separated therefrom and forms a milky insoluble sulphate of lead, which is washed away with the water, while the quicksilver, after so being treated, retains the copper of the solution, and will pass through the straining-sack free fro n the lead, and that the copper will not pass therethrough in any material quantity, but such as is retained by the quicksilver is materially advantageous inits subsequent use with ores containing lead.

The quantity of the sol'utionof the sulphate of copper which is employed in treating'quicksilver varies with the proportion or quantity oflead contained in the quicksilver, and an excess of the solution is harmless from the na ture of the ingredients of the composition.

In order to free quicksilver of the lead acquired thereby in its use as an amalgamator with ores containing lead, I mix with the quicksilver a suitable quantity ot'a solution of sulphate of copper, and at the same time agitate the mixture, when the lead will separate, as above described, and may be carried off by overflow until the amalgamator is suf ficiently cleansed.

The use of bichloride of copper and st am for cleaning amalgam, as heretofore practiced, is more expensive and less easily practiced than the method herein described.

Having described my invention and the manner of practicing the same, what I claim is The process herein described of freeing quicksilver from lead, which consists in agitating the same in the presence of a'solution of the sulphate of copper, substantially as specified.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

ABEL PATOHEN.

\Vitnesses:

E. B. STOCKING, WM. S. DUVALL.' 

